Concern rises over costs of war in patriotic town

Ron Ruddell has spent the past quarter of a century designing historically accurate toy soldiers from the second floor of his columned shop on Chestnut Street here, which is lined with trees wrapped in yellow ribbons and festooned with American flags as if it were still July 4th. So he pays particular attention to what's going on with US soldiers in Iraq. And what he sees is beginning to worry him.

"We really do need to get some kind of an endgame resolution on Iraq and get everyone home," says Mr. Ruddell, the president of London Bridge Toys. "There are a number of families here who do have loved ones serving in Iraq, and ... everyone is very concerned about them."

Throughout this historic Eastern Pennsylvania town, nestled between the city of Allentown and the northern slope of South Mountain, that concern is growing, reflecting a national apprehension about America's role in Iraq.

Tuesday, with yet another combat death, as many soldiers have now been killed in the postwar conflict as died in the initial battle to oust Saddam Hussein. And polls are beginning to show an increasing wariness that the nation will become entangled in another, unwinnable war in a foreign country where Americans are seen more as interlopers than liberators. Call it the "Vietnam factor." In a Newsweek poll over the weekend, 69 percent of Americans said they were concerned about becoming bogged down in Iraq for years without achieving its goals.

The administration, in an effort to stem eroding support, is urging Americans to be patient. And on the whole, they appear to be willing, at least for now.

"People are willing to give Bush the time and maneuverability to get this done," says Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "But what the public opinion is suggesting is that there is a time limit. This is not a blank check and it's not forever."

Here in Emmaus, part of a key swing district in a key swing state - so much so, that President Bush has visited it more than any state other than Texas since being elected - people are still taking a wait-and-see attitude. This is the kind of place where people make decisions based more on what's going over the fence rather than what they read in the papers, where people are more concerned about issues rather than political parties. Mr. Ruddell calls it the home of "the real silent majority."

But it is also a place where opinions about Iraq are very much in flux.

"If we suffer one death, if one boy or one girl is tragically ambushed or killed, that has a big impact on a small community," he says. "It may just be one, but that's all that matters when you get down to it."

Like much of the rest of the country, the roots of politics in Emmaus are found in its history. It was originally founded as a closed Moravian community in 1759. One hundred years later, it incorporated as borough and became a thriving manufacturing town, making cigars and textiles, and mining the abundant iron in the nearby rolling hills. By the 20th century, it had become more of a bedroom community for nearby Allentown. It is now a middle- and upper-middle-class town that hasn't forgotten its labor roots or its conservative founders. It's very much reminiscent of Mayberry, RFD and reflects political sentiments found across the nation.

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